Still Human
by lighthouseslikestars
Summary: An assassination attempt brings out buried feelings and the word 'dad' seems to fit Roy more than ever before.


It had started as a normal day, but it always did whenever something bad was to happen during it.

Roy had woken up that morning a little later than usual but he didn't seem to really mind about it since he still had some time left. The fact that Hawkeye was not threatening him with her gun meant that he was still on time. So he brushed his teeth and had some breakfast as he read the newspaper before taking a quick shower and getting dressed to go to the office to finish his work.

"Good morning, Coronel!" His team exclaimed with raised hands against their heads in sign of respect. Roy nodded in reply and went to sit at his desk.

"Good morning, we have to finish yesterday's investigation. Got it?"

"Yes, sir!" They replied and then went back to work, quickly enough laughing with each other and talking as if their boss was not there.

Roy didn't care at all, he preferred it that way.

"Good morning, sir." Riza said as she entered the room after knocking. She went to stand right next to him.

"Good morning, Lieutenant. Any news?"

"No, sir. Everything's the same as yesterday."

"That's good to hear." He sighed deeply before shaking his head and grabbing his pen to start signing some papers.

Not even thirty minutes had gone by when the door was slammed open and Edward Elric entered it without even knocking. And, as usual, Alphonse was right behind him.

"I see someone decided to finally hand his delayed report." Roy smirked without even looking up.

"Yeah, yeah, you wanted it to be professional so it took me a bit longer." He said before throwing the report onto the man's desk and going over to the table where the subordinates were to go talk to them.

Alphonse, instead, walked over to Roy and bowed deeply "I'm so sorry, Colonel Mustang! I told him to give you the report in time and to knock before coming inside."

"It's not your fault, Alphonse. Don't worry about it, I know how he is." He said before putting his pen down and looking up at him "I heard you both had some trouble in that town. Did he get hurt?" He wondered as he pointed at Edward who was smiling as he spoke to Havoc.

"A little." Alphonse sighed and Roy wondered how a big ass armor could look so innocent and naive "But I made him get treated immediately so it was nothing bad."

"That's good then." Roy sighed in relief before going back to work "Hagaren is to stay in here until I have assigned him another mission. I am investigating another lead for you but I want to clear some things up before I give any orders."

"I understand, sir." Alphonse bowed again "Thank you so much for all your hard work."

"Don't be so formal, you're not part of the military, you don't have to treat me as if I was your boss." Roy smiled a bit at the boy.

"Oh I couldn't! You're still a very important person, sir"

"And so are you." Roy sighed as he worked "And how are you, Alphonse?"

"I'm okay." The boy's bright voice spoke through the metal "I found two cats outside during a storm. They were really lonely and one of them hurt it's leg! Nii-san let me take them back with us and the next day we went to a vet to cure it. Nii-san even found them good homes with a nice family living next door! It was a man and his little son. The child was so happy and he treated the cats so nicely! I wish I could have a kitty too but we're always travelling."

Roy listened patiently to everything Alphonse was saying "I like cats. My aunt let me have one when I was a kid, it died of old age later on but she was my companion."

"That's so nice! I want a pet so badly, Colonel!"

"Get down and take cover!"

Riza's voice suddenly broke through the big room, making everybody go silent. Roy blinked before turning to look at her, she was already aiming her gun at something in the window and Roy quickly found a tiny red spot on his hand. He gulped before suddenly hiding under his desk right before a shot was heard. He crawled underneath it and roughly pushed Alphonse to the ground.

"What the Hell is going on?!" Edward yelled from underneath the table, the other subordinates were preparing some guns "What's happening?!"

"An assassination attempt." Riza answered as crawled over to the couch to move it and open a small cabinet underneath it to get a sniper rifle "No one move and stay undercover."

"Damn it." Roy muttered as he kept a firm hand on top of Alphonse head "All of your heads remain on the ground, understood?!"

"Crystal clear." Havoc replied with a grunt.

"I'll take care of this, Colonel." Riza answered as she loaded the gun.

"Be careful." Mustang said. He opened his mouth to speak but a few shots rang, finally shattering his window and making horrible dents on his desk.

"They're trying to kill you…" Edward spoke slowly, his eyes frozen on Mustang "Why are they trying to kill you?"

"Many reasons." Roy sighed "Just stay right there, don't move an inch. We don't know how many there are and you may end up killed."

"Are you kidding me?! We gotta do something!" Edward exclaimed.

"Stay there!" Roy roared making even Alphonse flinch "Let the Lieutenant handle this! One wrong move and you will die, how is that not clear enough for you?!"

"Nii-san…" Alphonse said quietly and Roy frowned. The armor was far too big, making him too exposed. He had to move him behind the couch and far away from the window.

"Alphonse." He said quietly, the exchange of shots ringing right next to them "When I say the word, I want you to run behind the green couch." He pointed at it "And hide behind it."

"Colonel Mustang?" Alphonse spoke softly "But…"

"I'll cover you."

"But it's you they want!" Alphonse whispered harshly making Edward frown.

"You know how I told you that I'm not your superior? I am right now, so you will follow my orders." Roy frowned and Alphonse nodded. Roy turned to look at the window, Riza had the situation under control and the attention away from him but it seemed the target was placed in a rather unfortunate spot and she was not able to take them down that easily "Now!" Roy suddenly yelled as he quickly stood up. Alphonse gasped before he rushed to the furthest spot of the room, some bullets made dents in his armor and the man quickly moved to stand in front of the boy "Hurry!" He exclaimed before his eyes widened when he felt firing pain on his shoulder.

"Colonel!" Riza yelled but didn't move her eyes from the target. She fired many shots to distract the enemy.

Edward quickly clapped his hands together and made a wall to protect himself and the subordinates before quickly throwing himself on Mustang "Snap out of it! We have to take cover, you bastard!" He yelled and Roy moaned in pain but he quickly crawled with Edward underneath the table once more. Once he was safe, he gripped his shoulder blade tightly and cursed under his breath as he felt his hand getting warmer and warmer with his own blood seeping through his uniform "You're such an idiot!" Edward scolded him before taking his coat off and ripping some of the fabric to tie it tightly around the man's wound.

"I should be saying that." Roy spoke shakily "This is nothing."

"Shut up."

"Alphonse?" He wondered before quickly looking around "Is he-"

"He's fine, hiding where you told him to." The teenager muttered "I will help Hawkeye."

"No, you will not." Roy said, his voice weaker than usual but firm enough "You will stay right here, I refuse to lose any of my men like this."

"What about her?!" He exclaimed.

"She's more capable than what you think." Roy smirked "I trust her with my life. Give her a few mo-"

"It's done." Her voice resonated through the room "There were five enemies in total, all have been dealt with." She announced as she walked over to them. Roy's smirk only grew larger.

"What did I say?" He said before slowly crawling outside, but as soon as he stood up he was brought back down to his knees "Fucking hurts."

Fuery was quickly at his side "Let's get you to a doctor, sir." He helped Roy put his arm around his shoulders.

"Yeah, yeah." He said softly as him and Breda helped him walk out of the room.

Edward rushed to his brother's side who was still sitting behind the couch "Al? At you okay?" He whispered with a big urgency in his voice as he knelt before him "Al."

"I'm okay, nii-san." He said softly, hugging his knees against his chest.

"Are you sure." He said quietly as he put a hand on his arm "They got you good, luckily they didn't touch your seal." He said with a small smile.

Alphonse looked down at his arm "I don't feel pain so it's okay...Nii-san?" He then wondered in a rather weak voice.

"Yeah, Al?"

"Why did the Colonel do that?" He wondered and Edward blinked in confusion "Why did he protect me? I can't really die. I don't feel pain either…"

"Al…" His big brother said softly "I don't know what to tell you…"

"It's because he cares about you both." Riza said softly as she knelt next to them "He wants you both to be safe."

"No way." Edward chuckled and Riza nodded.

"He thinks of you as if you were his sons." She continued and Edward's eyes widened.

"No way!" He repeated "There's no...I-I mean w-we already…"

"He knows that you already have a father, he doesn't want to intrude on that." She spoke "Don't tell him I told you, alright? But I thought it was important you knew such thing. Why don't we go to the infirmary as well to go see how he is."

"Yeah go." Havoc smirked "We'll clean around here and start writing a report of this."

"So..I take it I'll live enough to take you on a date?" Mustang winked at the nurse once she was done treating him. She blushed and giggled behind her hand. Fuery and Breda sweatdropped at that and sighed deeply.

"I'm glad to know the Colonel is feeling good enough for this." Fuery chuckled nervously.

Mustang continued flirting a bit more before finally letting the young woman go. He then sighed and leaned against the headboard "I can't believe it."

"You really can't?" Breda wondered with an arched eyebrow.

"They shot Alphonse, they were aiming at him as well as I am sure they would have shot any of you. I had assumed they wanted to kill me but it seems they were after all of us."

"Sir, they didn't shoot Hawkeye until she started shooting them, and they didn't shoot Falman when he stood up to back her up. He was standing the whole time." Breda spoke quietly "They only shot Alphonse and were aiming at Edward as well. They shot him twice."

"What?! How come I didn't notice!" Roy exclaimed as he tried to get off the bed but Fuery stopped him "Let go!" He barked and his young subordinate flinched.

"He's unharmed, sir! Havoc protected him! Everyone's safe." Breda was quick to say as he gently pushed the man back onto the bed "All I'm saying is...The enemy of today knew where to aim, sir."

Roy frowned deeply at that "They are not safe around me."

"Neither away from you." Fuery spoke up "I mean...At least we can protect them here."

"Alphonse got shot."

"He's okay."

"He. Got. Shot."

"Sir…"

"Maybe I should have guards with them at all times."

"Maybe you should think it better." Breda spoke "With due respect, you are injured and today was rather eventful."

As soon as his men left the room the Elric brothers entered it with Riza standing right behind them. He smiled a bit and nodded at her and she understood all the conveyed feelings and messages in his eyes. She knew that he wasn't grateful for saving his life but rather for keeping his men and the kids safe. She understood him better than anyone else, after all.

"Hey Colonel Bastard." Edward said as he sat on the chair next to the bed. Alphonse stood silently on the other side. Roy turned to look at him and sighed when he realized his armor seemed as good as new "Fixed him right up." He said.

"Hagaren, shouldn't you be back in the hotel? I'm sure you know I can't go over your report and I can't send you on a mission right now."

"I wanted to make sure you were okay." He suddenly turned serious and Roy blinked at that "You saved Al."

"I made sure my men were all safe, that was all."

"Al is not one of your men, isn't he?" Edward arched an eyebrow and Roy sighed.

"Let it go."

"You shouldn't have done that, Colonel Mustang and I-I...I-I should have protected you. I can't die, I can't get hurt! I d-don't feel pain and I should have protected you!" Alphonse suddenly said and Edward frowned at that, concern clearly written all over his features.

"Alphonse?" Roy said softly as Riza put a comforting hand on Edward's shoulder before he could go to his brother. He looked at her and she signaled him to stay in silence "What's wrong?"

"You should use me as you see fit! I want to protect everyone! I can do it! I can be everyone's wall!" Alphonse's voice sounded as if he wanted to break down and start crying but since he clearly couldn't the boy seemed to be getting more and more frustrated "I'm just some metal put together! I-I w-won't die just like that, I won't feel pain!"

"Of course you feel pain." Roy chuckled bitterly "Of course you get hurt. Each bullet is a reminder of what you have lost, isn't it?" He looked up at the younger boy who remained silent "It's very noble of you to want to protect those dear to you, it seems to be a very admirable Elric trait, huh?" He teased lightly before slowly standing up and placing a gentle hand on the boy's arm "I'm the adult here, not you. I should have avoided you getting shot and I'm sorry about that." He narrowed his eyes.

"I-I can't fe-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence. The pain of the soul is far greater than that of the body, I have learned that in Ishval and I will stand to that for the rest of my life. A bullet in my shoulder hurt much less than the ones in you, even if you didn't physically felt them." He went on and Edward's shoulders lowered, he looked down at his hands "You are the strongest person I know, Alphonse. Much stronger than any of us standing right here." He gripped the armor tighter "Any of us would have gone crazy after losing their body or would have turned into a crazy blood-thirsty bastard. Any of us would have grabbed that Philosopher Stone in a heartbeat, no matter what it is made of, and would have gotten their body back. But you didn't do it, you didn't cave to revenge or lost yourself. You remained a brave kid. A kid I will always be proud of." He looked up at Alphonse and smiled a bit "I wish to ever be half the human you are."

"C-Colonel...M-Mustang…" Alphonse stuttered as he slowly got on his knees in front of the man "Dad…" He whispered quietly and Edward's head snapped up to look at the scene unfolding in front of him, he felt Riza's grip tightening and he gulped trying to get past the feelings clouding his mind.

He thought of Hohenheim and wondered if thinking of Roy as their dad meant betrayal. But he then remembered how lonely the man had left them and he quickly understood that a father is much more than the man who helped create you.

Roy picked up the pieces for them, he pointed the way to go, paid for their needs, help them investigate to recover what they lost and was always ready to receive them with heartfelt teasing and deep apologies whenever he would send them to a false lead.

Wasn't that how a father was supposed to be?

And now the man was comforting his brother, hugging him as if the boy could feel his warm arms around him, treating him like the child everyone knew he was.

He hoped Mustang wouldn't hurt his brother even more.

"I'm here." Roy whispered quietly in a way that Edward never heard before "I'm not going anywhere. Not that I can." He chuckled tiredly "And if I could I wouldn't."

"Dad, huh?" Edward muttered under his breath and Roy turned his head slowly to look at him. The golden eyed boy sighed deeply before smirking "Means you're a very old man."


End file.
